Funding will help to make NHS hospitals safer, more resilient and better equipped to care for patients.

The Department of Health and Social Care will invest £1.5 billion to help hospitals prepare for winter and extreme weather such as heatwaves to alleviate pressures on the health sector, it has announced.

A total of 950 NHS projects will benefit including more than £200 million set aside for ten major hospital improvements, and £1.3 billion for maintenance, safety and resilience projects across the NHS estate.

A further £32 million will fund specific projects to improve cooling and ventilation systems and to strengthen NHS hospital resilience to cope with extreme heat. Examples of this include Manchester Royal Infirmary and £154,000 to replace the PET scanner chiller to ensure reliable temperature control for highly sensitive imaging; Rampton Hospital, Nottinghamshire and £527,000 to replace air conditioning in a unit to maintain a stable, cool environment for patients, staff and visitors; and St Peter’s Hospital, Ashford and£791,000 to restore reliable cooling capacity to support safe operating conditions within theatres

“For decades, hospitals have focused on preparing for winter pressures, but the NHS is now facing new challenges, including periods of extreme heat and sustained pressure on services throughout the year,” said Yvette Cooper, health and social care secretary.

The investment will help to “make our NHS hospitals safer and more resilient, helping them to remain open and able to care for patients when pressure on services is greatest”, she added. 

“This includes investment in cooling and ventilation systems to help hospitals adapt to more frequent periods of extreme heat, and hundreds of projects to tackle urgent safety and infrastructure risks across the NHS estate,” Cooper said.

Updating ageing facilities and modernising wards

The ten hospitals that will receive a share of the £200 million funding for urgent improvements include Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport with £26 million for a new pathology building; Bristol Royal Infirmary with £41 million for improvements to operating theatres and to make facilities safer; Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead with £12 million to redevelop maternity facilities; Wycombe Hospital, Buckinghamshire with £25 million for a new clinical building to move health services from an ageing tower to modern facilities; Crystal Centre/Linden Centre, Essex with £15 million to build 14 new bedrooms to provide additional space for mental health patients and enable existing wards to be improved; Lister Hospital, Hertfordshire with £11 million for a new children’s ward to provide a safe, modern space for children needing hospital care; St George’s Hospital, Stafford with £25 million to fund improvements to a mental health unit to replace ageing facilities and provide a safer environment for patients; and Royal Free Hospital, London with £32 million to fund two new operating theatres to offer patients access to safer, modern facilities for complex operations.